I practiced civil litigation, representing clients on both sides of the v., for many years. As attorneys our job is to act in the best interest of our clients. In litigation, that responsibility is at odds with the traditional hourly payment model. A litigator who is paid on an hourly basis to litigate is not financially incentivized to resolve your case quickly. While approximately 90% of cases do settle before trial, most settle only after considerable time and expense have been spent.

The end of the year is a busy time and businesses should be mindful to not overlook some important to dos:
Keep Your Business in Good Standing
You invested the time and expense of incorporating your company to benefit from the corporate structure, so keep your business in good standing. Make sure to file any necessary statements of information or annual business renewals with the Secretary of State in the state in which you incorporated and states in which you have qualified to do business.

Negotiating on behalf of a client is part of everyday business for attorneys in every type of law practice. Each negotiation presents a unique set of challenges. How should attorneys prepare for negotiations to get the best outcome for their clients?

Ellie Vilendrer participated as a planning committee member of the 2015 Minnesota Closely Held Business Conference. The conference will take place on Tuesday, October 27th, 2015. The all-day conference will feature a complete update including how to advise your current LLC clients and draft an operating agreement under the new LLC statute, new fundraising opportunities under MNvest, cybersecurity planning and preparedness, addressing issues and risks that arise when conducting business online, and more. Attendees will be able to choose from among 19 small-group choices on topics every lawyer should know:

As self-interested, wealth maximizers, the impact of our actions on others is not the first thing that comes to mind when contemplating a decision. And for for-profit businesses whose primary concern is a maximized bottom-line, such considerations may be given even less weight if at all. Because people are self-interested and don’t naturally choose the good of the people over their own best interest, we have a complex judicial system that relies on laws to promote justice, fairness, and compensate those who have been treated unfairly. Regardless of the threat of an adverse legal or financial consequence, both businesses and individuals should hold their decisions to high ethical standards—because people matter more than profits.

Ellie Vilendrer has been selected as 1 of 60 professional negotiators to attend this year's Advanced Negotiation Master Class at Harvard University. The three-day in-depth negotiation training is taught by the world’s most distinguished negotiators – the people who invented modern dealmaking.

Ellie Vilendrer was recently awarded an AV Preeminent® rating by Martindale-Hubbell. AV Preeminent® is a significant rating accomplishment - a testament to the fact that a lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.

As we all well know, leadership trickles down. If you want the rank-and-file workers in your company to be transparent and accountable, the leadership must model it. Even the most inconsequential practice in the boardroom, if carried out long enough, will naturally trickle down to the rest of the company and to the front end to the customer base. Here are a few board governance best practices to help keep your business legally and financially sound:

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